PRO FOOTBALL

PRO FOOTBALL; Showdown Becomes Shutdown as 49ers Win

By FRANK LITSKY, Special to The New York Times

Published: December 4, 1990

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 3—
In a rock-'em, sock-'em battle of the National Football League's two most successful teams tonight, the 49ers were the biggest giants of all. With four minutes left, they stopped the Giants on four passes from the 49ers' 9-yard line and they went on to win, 7-3.

This was heralded as the game of the season, a Super Bowl before the playoffs even started. It turned out to be a defensive fight, with both offenses struggling.

The Giants took the lead on Matt Bahr's 20-yard field goal in the first quarter, and the 49ers moved ahead on Joe Montana's 23-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor in the second quarter. Taylor was covered closely by Mark Collins, the Giants' cornerback. Everson Walls, playing safety in the nickel defense, should have been helping on coverage to the inside, but he said he had been fooled on the play.

That was all the scoring, but it was enough for the 49ers to run their record to 11-1. They had already clinched their fifth straight division title.

The Giants fell to 10-2 with their second straight loss. They missed an opportunity to clinch their division title, but they can still do it with one victory, or one Philadelphia Eagles' loss in the next four weeks. Touchdown Streak Ends

The Giants were held without a touchdown for the first time since a 6-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills in a 1987 game between strike-replacement teams. Before that, the Giants had scored at least one touchdown a game in every game since a 29-0 loss to the Chicago Bears in a playoff after the 1985 season.

Here, the crowd of 66,092 fans was the largest ever to see the 49ers play in Candlestick Park. The spectators cheered loudly as the 49ers held the Giants at the end.

With little more than four minutes to go, the Giants drove from their 35-yard line to the 49ers' 9. On first down, Phil Simms's pass to Mark Bavaro was batted by Ronnie Lott, the 49ers' heralded free safety. On second down, Simms just overthrew Mark Ingram in the end zone. On third down, Lott broke up Simms's pass to Bavaro in the end zone.

On fourth down, rather than kick a field goal and hope to regain the ball, the Giants went for a touchdown. Simms passed for Lionel Manuel in the end zone, but Darryl Pollard broke up the line-drive pass and the Giants were done.

The Giants did regain possession on the 49ers' 45 with 36 seconds left. Simms spiked one pass to stop the clock and completed two other passes, but on the last play, he was sacked by Kevin Fagan as time ran out.

"Going for it on fourth down surprised me a bit," said Lawrence Taylor, the Giants' outside linebacker, "but it's the coach's call."

"We had our shots," said Coach Bill Parcells of the Giants, "and couldn't get it done."

For most of the game, the Giants stymied Montana's passes and the 49ers' running game. The Giants held Jerry Rice, the 49ers' feared pass receiver, to one catch, for 13 yards. The Giants did all that with the newly activated Carl Banks playing only in the fourth quarter.

The defenses were so dominant that the 49ers gained only 240 yards and the Giants 221. Montana completed only 12 of 29 for 152 yards, Simms 14 of 32 for 153.

The game that everyone expected to be dynamic started tentatively. In the first quarter, the 49ers made only one first down. The Giants had a good threat, reaching the 49ers' 30-yard line. But on third down, Dave Meggett lost 5 yards on an inside handoff. Rather than let Bahr try a 52-yard field goal, a little out of his range, the Giants punted.

In the second quarter, the 49ers drove to the Giants' 26, only to have the usually reliable Mike Cofer mishit a 43-yard field-goal attempt, sending it wide to the left. Two possessions later, the Giants broke through on three big passes by Simms.

First, the Giant quarterback hit Bavaro on a crossing pattern for 23 yards. Then he hit Ingram for 8 yards, with Ingram stretching forward and just making the first down. Then, on another third down, his pass for Rodney Hampton bounced off Hampton's hands into Stephen Baker's hands.

That 11-yard gain gave the Giants a first down on the 49ers' 3. After two runs and a pass gained only a yard, Bahr kicked a 20-yard field goal, and the Giants led, 3-0.

Only 3 minutes 26 seconds remained in the first half. That was plenty of time for the 49ers, who took the next kickoff and moved 63 yards in five plays. One play was a 31-yard slant pass from Montana to Roger Craig. The next big play was a 23-yard pass from Montana to John Taylor, who cut from the right toward the goal post, got a step on Collins, reached out in the end zone and grabbed the ball for a touchdown. That left the 49ers in the lead, for the half, and then the game, 7-3.

Photos: Phil Simms of the Giants fumbles while being sacked by the 49ers' Charles Haley, left, during third quarter. The ball was recovered by Ottis Anderson of the Giants for a 3-yard gain last night at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. (Don Smith for The New York Times) (pg. D23); Greg Cox, center of the 49ers after tackling the Giants' Dave Meggett, on the ground, for a loss on a punt in first quarter. Cox, an ex-Giant, is congratulated by Wesley Walls (89), Spencer Tillman and Harry Sydney. (Associated Press) (pg. D24)